iPhone Air long term review: Both an easy and a difficult phone to recommend

In November 2025 I published my initial review of the iPhone Air, loaned to me by Apple, based on my first few weeks with the device. Now, after several months with Apple's ultra slim phone, , and following the recent addition of the iPhone 17E to the line-up, I thought it a good time to revisit it.

Design

The iPhone Air's unique selling point is of course its physical design. Five months on, I can honestly say I still love it. My work phone is an iPhone 15; when I pick that up it feels like a brick by comparison. It's not just that the Air is thin, it's how light it feels that is probably most remarkable. It's comfortable to pick up, hold and use for long periods of time.

My one small bugbear with the design is one I feared in my initial review, and that's the width of the screen and device. If the screen was just a little smaller than it's 6.5 inches, perhaps similar to the regular iPhone 17, I think I'd find it a little more comfortable and may eliminate accidental selections due to those occasional palm taps. This is quite subjective of course; I've always had a preference for smaller phones that I can use one-handed, but it seems those days may now be behind us. The slim and light design though does mean it's not a deal breaker for me, as it likely would be with a Pro Max model, and I have slowly gotten used to it. The occasional issues with swiping left and right which I reported back in November have thankfully not continued, whether because issues in iOS have been fixed, or because I've adapted how I hold and use it, I don't know.

Overall I really love the design. In fact it's up there with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 12 mini as one of my favourite iPhones ever.

Durability

When I hand this phone to people there are two typical lines of discussion that follow. One is how nice it is, the other is their fear that they would break it. In fact, the iPhone Air is very durable indeed. While other models have moved to aluminium, the Air retains a titanium frame, making it lightweight but very sturdy. I tend to look after my phones quite well (I hope I don't regret saying that), but it has naturally had a few drops, which it has survived perfectly. Nor have I managed to bend or break it by sitting on it or had any other such calamities.

If you considered this phone but had that same fear about breaking it, I'm comfortable in reassuring you that you're no more likely to damage the iPhone Air than you are any other iPhone model.

Battery

It's well documented that this phone has a smaller battery than its iPhone 17 siblings, particularly the Pro and Pro Max, and in our community for sure is seen as its biggest compromise. My verdict in the initial review was that it's better than expected, and that verdict has stood the test of time. While a top-up can be needed on days of extreme usage, this has truthfully been very rare. I almost always get through the full day on a single charge, and that's with a 90% charge limit set. I typically finish days with over 30% and it's not unusual to finish the day with over 40% battery. Even on days with heavier usage, such as weekends in my case, I generally have 10% to 20% remaining. I'd also point out that, as I have limited usable sight, I do not use the screen curtain. If travelling I will take a power bank with me for sure, but day to day I haven't needed one.

So I still think that while the battery in the 17 Pro and Pro Max may Destroy the Air, and the base 17 and possibly even 17E may marginally out-perform it, the Air is going to be fine for most people. This feels like I'm being controversial, because compromise has been the word most associated with this phone, but really I think it's all relative.

Camera and Speaker

Back in November I said that the fact of having only one camera and one speaker had not to date been an issue for me. Again, this remains my experience. I think it's important though to caveat that by saying my usage of these two features is limited. I take the odd photo, and use the camera with apps like Be My Eyes and PiccyBot, but I'm very far from a heavy camera user. Similarly, I use the speaker for day to day navigation with VoiceOver, and would play some reels on Instagram, but I'm not using it to listen to music as I wear AirPods for most media consumption.

The speaker was the compromise I was most worried about though, so I'm glad to have found it to be a non-issue for my use case.

Performance

Funnily enough, I almost neglected to include performance in this review at all; not due to any issues, but because it is good enough that I'm not really cognisant of it. The fact is that it's one of Apple's latest line-up on iPhones, with the A19 Pro processor and other top tier technology, and so it performs every bit as well as you would hope and expect. As with its iPhone 17 siblings, you can expect to get several years of usage from the Air.

Value for money

Now then, this is the question. What should we value? What do you value? A part of me thinks people are sleeping on this phone. News reports all suggest it's not selling gangbusters. But it's a beautiful phone and a joy to use.

Nor am I surprised though. The value proposition is all in the design. Against that, aside from the iPhone 17E, the Air is equal at best with the rest of the iPhone 17 line-up in terms of features, and is compromised in some areas.

The price is an important part of this story. At $999 it is $200 more than the base iPhone 17, which packs more punch in terms of features, and $400 more than the recently launched iPhone 17E. My colleague's first impressions of the 17E suggest real value for money there too. Above it too the competition is fierce from a Pro model starting at only $100 extra. If a little closer in price to the base iPhone 17, the iPhone Air would be a lot easier to recommend and I suspect may have tempted much more interest.

Conclusions

If it were closer to the base 17 on price, or closer to the 17 Pro on features, I'd happily recommend the iPhone Air to anyone. As it is though, despite its undoubted qualities and my personal fondness for it, it's not hugely surprising that it is missing the mark for many people.

That said, if I had bought this phone, I don't think I'd regret it at all. It is beautiful, and it truly is difficult to go back to a standard design after using it. Plus the compromises have not proved significant for me in practice. There's every chance, should one arrive, that I will buy the second generation of the iPhone Air.

I hope the iPhone Air turns out to be a test run of what the future of iPhone could be as the technology improves.

You can probably sense my internal struggle here. It's fair if you don't feel it's a phone worth investing in, but it is a beautiful phone, and a breath of fresh air, that I really like. My final word is to say don't dismiss this phone out of hand because of battery fears, but nonetheless it's understandable if the design benefits aren't worth the extra cost to you.